Tweet
PUEBLO, Colo. ? Sixty-nine people in Colorado have died of H1N1, the ?swine flu? virus, but health department officials don?t know how many of the victims were black or Latino.
That?s because epidemiologists at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment don?t track H1N1 deaths by race or ethnicity.
In the town of Pueblo, where nearly half of the 100,000 residents are Latino, Hispanic media greeted that news with frustration, but not surprise. The government?s failure to note the ethnicity of those who die from the flu, they said, represents the pattern and practice of a public health establishment that?s distant from the community it serves.
That?s because epidemiologists at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment don?t track H1N1 deaths by race or ethnicity.
In the town of Pueblo, where nearly half of the 100,000 residents are Latino, Hispanic media greeted that news with frustration, but not surprise. The government?s failure to note the ethnicity of those who die from the flu, they said, represents the pattern and practice of a public health establishment that?s distant from the community it serves.
